With the wisdom of hindsight, I realized really goofed tonight. I want to write about it so that others won't make the same mistake.
First, a little back story. Over the last 3 months I've added 3 new guns to my collection... a Ruger 10/22, a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum and a Sig P6. However, due to work and holidays I haven't made it to the range to fire any of them. I really hate having a gun sitting in my safe that I haven't shot, so having 3 like that was really bugging me. I knew my wife had to work tonight and I was off so I made up my mind to head to the range and get some trigger time with my newest guns.
I spent last night stuffing magazines and packing my range bag. When my wife left for work, I was all set and packed the car to head to the local range. I arrived a few minutes after 6pm. I noticed the hours on the door said they closed at 6pm on Saturdays, but since the parking lot was pretty full, I decided to try anyway and see if I could get them to sneak me in for at least a 30 minute session.
I got to the counter to learn that the crowded parking lot was due to a class they were teaching that night and they were indeed closed. I was pretty bummed. I explained to the range owner that I had several new guns that I really wanted to try out and could he just stick me down at the end of the line and let me shoot while the class was going on? He said if I was really quick, he'd give me a lane for 5 minutes while they finished briefing the class.
At that point, I should have just said "no thank you" and left. I should have just decided to come back another day. However, I had a range bag full of loaded magazines and I was itching to shoot. I took the offer and blazed through all the loaded mags I had for the Sig P6 (5 mags of 8 rounds each). Then, I pulled out the Redhawk and fired off the last 13 rounds of .44 Magnum I had. Then, I quickly pulled out my 10/22 and cranked through 1 10 round mag and 4 25 round mags. All the guns fired with zero malfunctions and I packed up, thanked him for squeezing me in and left.
I left fairly happy because I had gotten to try out all my new guns and they all had functioned 100%. However, after thinking about it, all I really accomplished was using up over 150 rounds of ammo and got ZERO real practice. For most of us, getting time at the range is rare and when we get the time we should really use that time for some real practice. We should be working on trigger control or sight alignment or double taps or any of a million other skills that we need to work on. Instead, I simply fired off rounds. I wasted a range trip and since I wasted the ammo I had set aside, I can't go back tomorrow when I wouldn't be so rushed. Learn from my mistake. If you can't devote the time to do it right, best to find a better time to head to the range and just save your ammo.
Stay safe out there... and watch your six.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Restarted my Personal Blog
Just a quick note here. Before I ran "Watch Your Six" I had a personal blog that I ran to help my friends and family keep up with me. I lost track of it and yesterday stumbled across it by accident. I've decided to restart it. I will continue to post all gun related topics here, but anything else will be posted on "Sean's Blog". I will maintain a link on the right slide under "My Other Blog".
Friday, January 7, 2011
Another new toy
Well, the holidays are over... thank goodness. Am I the only one that is dismayed that we spend a month or more preparing for Christmas and then in one day it is over? It always seems so anti-climactic. Well, this year did result in two rather special things. The first is that for the first time in my 38 years, I got to experience a white Christmas. It started snowing about 11am on Christmas Day and by the time it was done, we had about 8 inches. The other thing that happened (and the one that more fits the topic of this blog) is that my wife gave me $300 to spend on a new gun.
The plan was to attend the local gun show that was scheduled to be held on Jan 1st and 2nd here. However, the Monday after Christmas I decided to hit the local pawn shops just to see what they had to offer. The first one I went to was the one furthest from my house that I had on my list. It is Foothills Jewelry and Loan in Hickory, NC. My plan was to start there and then work my way back home stopping in about a half dozen shops along the way. I walked into Foothills and scanned the gun counters. They only had one gun that really caught my eye... a Sig P6.
For those that are unfamiliar, the P6 is the German Police version of the Sig P225. It is a single column 9mm that has since been replaced by the P239 in Sig's lineup. In fact, my wife has a P239 and I had one myself that I sold this summer. If you want a good picture of a P225 go to SigForum. The picture on the welcome page and in the logo is a Sig P225 and looks nearly identical to the one I found at Foothills. A couple of years ago, the German Police started trading in their older P6's and a large number of them were imported into the U.S. for civilian sales at some VERY good prices. At the time, it was not that rare to see them in the $250 - $300 range. That supply quickly dried up and a new batch came in at a higher price of $400 - $450. These guns varied greatly in condition. Some were LNIB while others looked liked they were used as a dog toy in the K9 division. A friend that works at Hyatt Gun Shop actually got a NIB one that was never issued to an officer.
That supply too has dried up and they are getting hard to find again. One issue is that older models apparently had a different feed ramp than the civilian P225 and did not feed hollow point ammo very well. The P6 I found was in excellent condition and had a newer date code on it from after the hollow point issue had been corrected. After a little haggling, I got the gun for $350 + tax with 2 mags, a shoulder holster and a single mag carrier. This gun is immaculate and I feel very lucky to have found it.
My only problem is that I didn't get to browse the other shops and going to the gun show became pointless. Oh well. I got a great gun at a great price and got to replace one of the guns I sold that I regretted. Check those pawn shops occasionally. You never know when you will find something special waiting for you there. Stay safe out there... and watch your six.
The plan was to attend the local gun show that was scheduled to be held on Jan 1st and 2nd here. However, the Monday after Christmas I decided to hit the local pawn shops just to see what they had to offer. The first one I went to was the one furthest from my house that I had on my list. It is Foothills Jewelry and Loan in Hickory, NC. My plan was to start there and then work my way back home stopping in about a half dozen shops along the way. I walked into Foothills and scanned the gun counters. They only had one gun that really caught my eye... a Sig P6.
For those that are unfamiliar, the P6 is the German Police version of the Sig P225. It is a single column 9mm that has since been replaced by the P239 in Sig's lineup. In fact, my wife has a P239 and I had one myself that I sold this summer. If you want a good picture of a P225 go to SigForum. The picture on the welcome page and in the logo is a Sig P225 and looks nearly identical to the one I found at Foothills. A couple of years ago, the German Police started trading in their older P6's and a large number of them were imported into the U.S. for civilian sales at some VERY good prices. At the time, it was not that rare to see them in the $250 - $300 range. That supply quickly dried up and a new batch came in at a higher price of $400 - $450. These guns varied greatly in condition. Some were LNIB while others looked liked they were used as a dog toy in the K9 division. A friend that works at Hyatt Gun Shop actually got a NIB one that was never issued to an officer.
That supply too has dried up and they are getting hard to find again. One issue is that older models apparently had a different feed ramp than the civilian P225 and did not feed hollow point ammo very well. The P6 I found was in excellent condition and had a newer date code on it from after the hollow point issue had been corrected. After a little haggling, I got the gun for $350 + tax with 2 mags, a shoulder holster and a single mag carrier. This gun is immaculate and I feel very lucky to have found it.
My only problem is that I didn't get to browse the other shops and going to the gun show became pointless. Oh well. I got a great gun at a great price and got to replace one of the guns I sold that I regretted. Check those pawn shops occasionally. You never know when you will find something special waiting for you there. Stay safe out there... and watch your six.
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